Hospital food being transformed

Whether it's the taste and tepid temperature or the variety and presentation, patients seldom say good things about the chicken, pasta or green gelatin.

But at a time when hospitals are competing for patients, officials are listening to the complaints.

Some local hospitals make meals from scratch or provide "room service." And some employ staff who dress like servers at high-end restaurants to take orders and deliver food.

"It used to be that some people told jokes about the food and that it wasn't very important," said Kathy R. Matney, executive director of service excellence at Ohio State University Medical Center.

"It might not be as important as the skills of your surgeon or the care ... but it helps them feel comfortable, and they're a little less anxious."

To improve the eating experience, Ohio State is building kitchens closer to patient areas so that cooks can prepare food that is made to order and served hot from the stove. Ohio State says it will have nine remote kitchens - seven on the main campus and two at University Hospital East - by the summer of 2012.

Two of the kitchens already are open - at Harding Hospital and Dodd Hall, where there's a dining room for patients.

"It's excellent," said Greg Malone, a physical-rehab patient at Dodd Hall who was eating chicken stir-fry with rice on Monday. "No other hospital can come close to it."

Don Cutler, 79, also a patient at Dodd, opted for a hamburger. He said he likes being able to have someone take his order and watch it being made a few feet away and delivered to his table.

"It's pretty good; I can't complain," Cutler said.

Ohio State said it plans to hire 25 hosts and hostesses to serve meals when the remote kitchens open in the main hospital and University Hospital East.

"Rather than having a very busy food-service aide fly in and grab the menu and go, we're going to hire folks that will be able to spend a little time with each patient," Matney said.

Officials at each of the local hospital systems say they want patients to enjoy their food.

OhioHealth offers 12-hour "room service," and prepared meals are kept on the patient floors 24 hours a day. At Dublin Methodist Hospital, patients and their families can order food online to be delivered.

Nationwide Children's Hospital also has on-demand ordering that features food being delivered by people dressed like restaurant servers.

Starting in April, Mount Carmel St. Ann's hospital will operate an "ambassador" program in which workers will take orders, deliver food and check in on patients to make sure everything is to their liking.

Dennis Bowdy, director of nutrition services at Mount Carmel Health System, said food is an important part of recovery. He said fresh ingredients are used for meals prepared from scratch.

Bowdy's hospital food is, well, not bad.

"Our daily primary objective is to change that stigma," he said.

shoholik@dispatch.com

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